A forward-thinker in every sense of the word, modernity has been an endless and enduring source of inspiration for Pierre Cardin. “Fashion gives me the opportunity to travel through a futuristic world,” said Cardin, speaking from his home in Paris. The French designer is in town next week with a new book, Pierre Cardin: 60 Years of Innovation, to celebrate that lifelong journey. Packed with iconic images from Cardin’s fantastical archive, the volume is a visual retrospective of Cardin’s space-age vision. “My most beautiful memory is wearing a space suit identical to Neil Armstrong’s,” he said. Cardin might not have made it to the moon just yet, but he’s certainly crossed several fashion frontiers in his time. Always thinking beyond the atelier, he pioneered creative branding and licensing, and looked to the East (he held a fashion show at Beijing’s Cultural Palace of Nationalities back in the late seventies), while the rest of the fashion world stood still. Those galactic graces are clearly still inspiring designers and us—perhaps it’s a bronze sandal by Alejandro Ingelmo, a geometric Tom Binns cuff, or high-tech frames from Christian Roth.